7th Heaven's Killer Secret!

Hey, 7th Heaven fans! Still wondering why a grim-faced cop showed up at Rev. Eric Camden's door in last season's cliffhanger finale? You'll get your answer in tonight's season premiere (8 pm/ET on WB). Here's a hint from executive producer Brenda Hampton: A member of the Camden clan is a killer. (No, we're not talking about Jessica Biel, who pretty much killed her career by posing nearly naked in that laddie mag, Gear.)

Who is it and whom did they kill? Hampton won't tell. ("That's the mystery," she teases). Another surprise on tap: Tonight's episode will reveal which Camden is going to have a baby. Is it newlywed Lucy (Beverley Mitchell), who secretly took a home pregnancy test last season? Or Mary (Biel, who will be back for only two episodes)? Let's hope it's not matriarch Annie (Catherine Hicks), who, with seven kids, has enough problems already.

Then again, Annie is losing one from the nest. David Gallagher, 18, who plays Simon, is heading off to college at the University of Southern California, and will only appear in the first five episodes this season. Hampton is handling Gallagher's departure by sending his character, now a junior in high school, off to college, too.

Wait a sec. How did Simon get in early? By sending a homemade video along with his application. That video will be the center of Gallagher's final episode, titled "The Kid is Out of the Picture," which parodies the documentary The Kid Stays in the Picture about the life of notorious movie producer Robert Evans. Hampton says Evans himself may appear in the piece...

With or without Evans, the show will trundle along. It's already been renewed for the 2004-05 season, which Hampton says will be the last. "I think that's the end of it," she says. "I think I have more stories to tell, but it's a long run for a television show and we've been very lucky. If we go beyond nine, we'd be pushing it."